B.C. teachers' ban on volunteer activities needs to end now, some say

Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun05.10.2012

BCTF president Susan Lambert. Public school employers have filed an application with the B.C. Labour Relations Board seeking an order to end a union protest that has teachers withdrawing from extracurricular activities such as coaching sports teams, organizing theatrical productions and supervising field trips.

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Public school employers are seeking an order that would end a B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF) protest that has disrupted after-hours activities, including field trips, parent-teacher interviews, end-of-year celebrations and fine arts performances.

On Wednesday, the employers filed an application with the B.C. Labour Relations Board (LRB) asking for a declaration that teachers who have withdrawn from all activities outside instructional hours, in a fight with the Liberal government, are engaged in an illegal strike that must stop.

Those activities include many that are described as extracurricular — coaching, leading school clubs and supervising camping trips. But the protest has also seen teachers refuse tasks such as filing reports, talking to principals, meeting parents, tutoring students and performing administrative duties, said Hugh Finlayson, chief executive officer of the B.C. Public School Employers' Association.

The BCTF insists teachers have the right to quit all voluntary work, which it describes as anything that occurs outside of school bells. The employers say they're not trying to force individual teachers to continue with work that is truly voluntary, but they insist the union has described extracurricular activities too broadly, in a way that encompasses work that is expected of teachers.

Furthermore, Finlayson said the LRB application isn't concerned with any specific task but rather the legality of a coordinated union withdrawal from work done previously, along with threats of union discipline for those who won't take part.

"That's a concerted action and a concerted action is not permitted," he said in an interview.

A day before the application was filed, BCTF president Susan Lambert sent a letter to members appealing for union solidarity with respect to their vote last month to withdraw from extracurricular activities. Their protest has resulted in the rescheduling of many year-end events and cancellation of those that require teacher sponsors, which spells disappointment for students.

"For this part of the action plan to be effective, and to ensure that it can be sustained until the end of June, we need to be united and strong around the province," Lambert wrote. "It takes extraordinary courage for members to make these decisions, and we must support them and each other through this action plan."

In an interview, she acknowledged that some teachers are still volunteering and she's received emails from members complaining about those colleagues. But as of Wednesday, there had been no formal accusations that could lead to union discipline, she added.

"Of course there are going to be differences of opinion [about the action]," she said. "It's not something that we wanted to do."

The BCTF withdrawal from volunteer activities is part of a protest against the government's Bill 22, which ordered a six-month cooling-off period in a bitter contract feud and imposed a mediator to work with both parties on issues described in the legislation. During that time, a strike is illegal and punishable with hefty fines, which Lambert said left the union with few protest options.

The union has not yet decided if the ban on volunteer activities will continue into the 2012-13 school year, Lambert said.

Mediator Charles Jago has been meeting with the BCTF and the employers in an attempt to reach a new contract before his June 30 deadline. While the union is participating in the mediation, it has also launched a court challenge of Jago's appointment based on his inexperience and an apprehension of bias arising from a report he wrote in 2006 and his $1,000 payments to the Liberal party.

In her letter to members, Lambert says the definition of extracurricular activities is simple and straightforward in response to members' concerns that the BCTF's Phase 1 job action — which occurred from September to March — was applied inconsistently around the province.

"There was discussion at the Winter RA (representative assembly) and the AGM (in March) about the need for future action to be tighter and more consistent. That is part of the reason the advice provided on extracurricular/voluntary activities is a cut-and-dried definition," she writes. "There are members around the province who have shifted their evening performances into instructional time, or have cancelled them outright; there are members who have cancelled trips that involved extensive amounts of preparation and commitment of funds. We need to stand in solidarity with members who have already made these sacrifices."

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